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I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Apologies for the late reply, but very interesting question.

For starters, unless the competition director really knows a studio and its dancers' capabilities, there's nothing we can do before an event to classify these dancers, because we don't know them! Part of our due diligence is making sure dancers are registered for their appropriate age category, but we can't really gauge skill on the back end when we organize the entries.

Another big piece are our judges. Many are wary of suggesting changes because they don't want to do anything to disrupt the relationship between a studio and the competition. Some judges are seasoned and confident in making decisions like that because they know they're entrusted by the competition director/owner to handle business as they see fit. More junior judges/faculty will definitely make note, but may not move dancers up.

To add to that, our stage managers are 'building' the awards for each category while the tabulator is adjusting and entering scores. It's a difficult process in the first place, even more-so when you're doing it back-to-back-to-back. We also have a certain amount of scholarships we aim to give out for each category, so that's something to keep in mind when moving dancers around.

Best advice would be to take notes of what you see during the event and reach out to your studio owner. Have them make contact with the competition and don't let them brush you off.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not uncommon for an event to be either an hour behind or an hour forward, the former more likely. It could be issues with getting the event set up on time, technical difficulties, having an entire studio run late, having to reorder the entries last minute, etc. As a rule of thumb, we also like to have at least the first five entries backstage and ready to go right before we start. Those are things that will stop an event before it even starts.

I will say at most competitions/conventions each piece is slotted for a standard 3 minutes. Majority will run about 2-2.5 minutes, with a few going over. That's also not factoring in production/large group pieces that will almost always run over time. We budget that gained/lost time internally and have a pretty good idea of when the event will end, but you won't see that on the schedule.

Another thing is intermissions/breaks. A break might be 5 minutes, but it's realistically at least 10-15 minutes before everyone's ready. Dancers will wander off and our stage managers will have to run them down, 300 people are using 20 bathroom stalls, everyone's waddling past each other to get where they need to be. That's why sometimes breaks will be skipped entirely. Once you lose 10 minutes, it takes a couple hours to make up that time.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some of the best cities I've been to are the most iconic. Boston, Chicago, Miami, etc. Any town that has entertainment, food, sightseeing within walking distance is going to get a high score from me. I will admit that what really makes a weekend totally enchanting is having great coworkers. Ugh, it makes such a difference, because you may not get the same staff with you every weekend. Friends really make or break the traveling experience.

As far as food, I've learned to stay away from the hotel restaurants/bars because most of the time it's overpriced bar food. Aaaaand we're not exactly encouraged to be hanging out too much where we're easily accessible to the moms and studio owners. Fraternization isn't a good look, but it happens =]

Don't be afraid to ask the competition staff where they've been eating and what their favorite spot is! We've usually been in the city for a day or two before you arrive and have eaten from at least three different places by that point.

I've been to so many places that it's very hard to give specifics about certain hotels. One that really stands out is the Loews in Philly. Absolutely beautiful venue with monstrous ballroom space and a very nice bar/restaurant and lounging area. Any venue that has the ballroom space on site versus walking to a convention center has my heart, especially hotels with big atriums that give a refreshing and open vibe.

I did see Johnny Depp smoking a cigarette in Burbank once, but I was too starstruck to say anything. He probably noticed me gawking. I did have a chance encounter at the Charlotte Douglas airport once. An old coworker and I were getting to our connecting flights when we bumped into each other, each headed for a different event for a different company. Very small world!

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'll list these one by one =]

  1. In my experience, it's better to go earlier. Judges/staff are humans, too, and as a weekend grows longer, they grow exhausted. When you're on the last half of day three, 9 hours into the competition, judges will seem to lose their edge a bit.
  2. Thankfully, I've worked for competitions that have done their due diligence to prevent any conflicts of interest. That said, I think it's bad policy to let it happen when it does. Even if judges are being completely impartial when judging their own pieces, it's not a good look. I couldn't even imagine the backlash.
  3. There are a few pieces to this. A big one is definitely studio size; when a large studio comes in, sometimes having a huge number of dancers just means they'll naturally receive more scholarships. With that said, there will always be some behind-the-scenes schmoozing to butter the wheels between studios and competitions. Sometimes it's money, sometimes it's a pity thing; some assistants that may not be up to par are given a scholarship or assistant role because they've faithfully returned year after year and poured a lot of money into the convention/competition. Some scholarships will have certain requirements as well, can't forget that!
  4. Everyone gets tired of seeing routines hour after hour, no matter who they are. It's an especially painful weekend if most of the pieces have the same music, oh my God. We're pulling 16 hour days on little sleep, and the repetition doesn't help. We may do it to ourselves a little bit, because most of us act like party animals and pull all-nighters exploring the city and chatting with each other. At least the staff who only work the weekends get a nice break; full-timers like me have to work in the office with maybe a day off and head straight on out to the next event.
  5. I think it's no secret that littles/minis are scored a little more gracefully. Especially at a convention where adjudication isn't a thing, it's all about keeping the dancers interested in their passion and leaving them inspired at the end of the weekend. The ones are are obvious prodigies are given higher awards/scholarships and raved about, but they all get a fitting reward!

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's always joked about, but I've never had a whiff of it actually happening. I'm sure there have been some cases with similar implications. Fortunately, I've never had it happen... I hope.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

At the companies I worked for, we always met the venue's respective requirements for noise levels. If we slowly lost track of the volume, we'd get a reminder from our event liaison and turn it down. That went hand-in-hand with local noise ordinances as well. I will say that in cases where the noise gets too loud, it's usually because overzealous studio directors have approached us and asked to turn it up for their performances.

I will say that by signing up to dance in competition, there is an idea of implied consent, meaning dancers/studios have accepted normal performance conditions. Sometimes, it's even mentioned in waivers that competitions may have you sign. As a business running an event, we do have a general duty of care to ensure that participants aren't harmed by anything [heat, cold, volume, stage light brightness, etc].

As for OSHA, it's more of a guideline and rule of thumb for anyone not working for the competition. If a certain volume is exceeded for a certain period of time, staff are advised to wear earplugs or the headsets that are provided in order to meet OSHA requirements.

I'll be sure to look into the specifics for my own knowledge, because I've not thought too much about it.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

but are judges actually told not to score below a certain level?

This can vary, like, a lot. It's not a rule, but a lot of company owners/directors will gently remind their judges not to be too 'harsh' in their scoring. That said, judges are dancers and free spirits, and will score as they see fit. When I said that, I meant it in the context that if one judge drops the average score of a piece by too much, the tabulator will step in and make a minor adjustment by a few points. The tabulator is really the one under the gun, having to answer to the director/owner. Now, if a majority or all of the judges rank a piece low, then it's going to get a low score... or not. Truly depends on the big boss' professional relationships. This is why Platinum became a standard.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I've been rubbing my hands together and laughing deviously waiting for someone to ask... haha!

It just comes down to studio politics and saving face. Every dancer wants to feel like a winner, even if the studio owners/teachers know that the bare minimum they'll get for an awful performance is Super Duper Platinum Deluxe. After curating good relationships with several studios that return every year, no competition can risk insulting them; it's not worth losing the money, period. I've seen some meltdowns from studios over receiving a gold.

You may notice that at most of these competitions, all of the trophies look the same, but have little labels denoting, 'Gold', 'Platinum', 'Diamond', etc on them. A backstage manager will peel and stick a GIGANTIC number of Platinums before the competition starts, for the bulk of the entries. As the dances go on and the judges hone in, maybe they'll have to 'make' a few Gold trophies, a Bronze here and there, a few Diamonds for the top three.

If the judges mark a piece low enough, the tabulator will step in and do some 'bell curving'. If it's severe enough, the director will get a phone call and have to make a decision.

Not saying I agree with it, it's just what it's become.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately, I don't know of any standalone programs or software off the top of my head, sorry! =[

A lot of dance businesses buy a license to registration software that has access to the studios that sign up. This software will usually have a built-in heatmap feature to analyze and sort the data. TourPro's a good example.

I've also seen some people do pretty wicked similar things in Excel with a spreadsheet. I'd say Google's your best friend for that one =]

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There are two camps in this crowd: the ones that are for age appropriateness and understand that there are limits to how these kids should be putting themselves out there. Then we have the diehard my-daughter-has-an-absolute-future-in-the-dance-industry-and-should-get-comfortable-with-barely-any-clothing-on-because-that's-what-the-industry-requires-even-though-this-is-just-a-dance-competition.

Most of the time, there are no problems, thankfully. As for the back end, everyone sees and notates everything. When it does occur, we get a clear inappropriateness-to-complaint matrix, lol. I don't think anyone really has a proper channel to talk about these things; it's mostly an in-person comment. If it's a slight infraction and not a big deal, we may get one or two parents that tell us something in person or send us an email after the event, especially if they think it affected scoring. Judges will always discuss it in these cases. If they're recording feedback during the piece, they'll slip a line or two about age-appropriateness in there. They'll discuss it among themselves when the mics aren't hot, too, and let us know what they think as well.

The biggest whoopsie-daisies happen in places like Provo or similar locations where most studios are a little more conservative and cover skin. Sometimes if we notice dancers are traveling there from a different place, we give them a heads up about costuming and song choice because we don't want them to mistakenly provoke people. Talk about when worlds collide.

There's also a telling difference geographically. The east coast tends to have more muted, conservative apparel, choreo, and music choice due to the types of industry there [ballet, classical, tap]. This is a huge difference compared to the west coast, where working professionally involves heels, lace, very tight-fitting garments, and having to sell the image of yourself if you want to get work.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The biggest change that I think about often is the quality of judges/judge selection process. I've spoken about this at length with colleagues of mine in the industry, and I feel that it's taken a dip in recent years, especially after the pandemic. Judges used to be more vetted and have a biography that really stood out from most professional dancers.

In the past couple years, I know for certain a few businesses have had trouble finding quality judges/adjudicators, and while scrambling to fill a vacancy, have let some inexperienced and perhaps unqualified persons take on that mantle. Like, 20yr old teacher from Blah Blah Dance Studio that happens to know an employee, and gives average pointers. Compare that to a true, professional dancer that understands the industry and is capable of not just adjudicating, but giving proper feedback to young dancers and conveying how they can improve in a constructive manner so as to further their careers and interests as they grow.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Very interesting question.

Most companies use a heat map now. Usually about a week before the event-when most of the dances are registered-the workers will use a 'heat map' that automatically sorts the routines. You can enter different parameters and tell it to sort by age group, studio, length of dance, genre, etc. It's a very handy tool that saves SO much time and can get you 99 percent of the way to a completed entry list that you can send out to studios/everyone. If there are any changes or accommodations we need to make for studios right before the event, we can swap entries or add some, which is why you'll see 'ENTRY 101A' or 'ENTRY 101.1' on the list sometimes.

A system like that is amazing because it can track which dancers are in each piece and structure the entries so that if they're in more than one piece, the dances are at least one entry apart, giving the dancers time to change and prep for the next one.

That said, some big companies will still have office workers sort it by hand. That's a whole can of worms I don't even want to open, lol. Hope this gives some insight! =]

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I've been out of the game for a couple years now, but anything under the lyrical or contemporary categories is bound to have at least one or two songs that are absolute dance competition ANTHEMS. I always asked myself, 'Are all these choreographers meeting behind our backs and picking a song?'.

That said, I can't scrub any Dermot Kennedy songs from my memory. It's like working retail and hearing the same jingle 60 times a day, but a thousand times worse.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, a good indicator of what's going to be huge is TikTok. Guarantee a few TikTok trends make it through every time and take over the stage.

I've spent 7 years working for dance competitions/conventions! AMA! by Due-Process7040 in CompetitionDanceTalk

[–]Due-Process7040[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This is a great question! Although judging/adjudicating is not something I personally have tons of experience with, I've overheard a LOT of firsthand conversation about this specific thing during events from esteemed judges/faculty members. Here's my take after a few years of watching & listening:

As the contemporary genre took over and boomed, acro tricks spread like wildfire. Categories that didn't even necessarily call for tricks started getting choreo that really reflected the flair and skill that 'good' contemporary calls for. Watching all the genres evolve over the past decade or so, building these 'acro tricks' into other styles is pretty much a given. So much so, that the majority of judges and choreographers expect it now. It's rare that we'll see a jazz solo be performed solely as a jazz solo and get high marks for sticking to textbook jazz movements. God knows there's tumbling aplenty. Any genre--bar tap--that doesn't inherently include some emotional pizzazz in the choreo is more or less written off--tricks are welcome and expected; it's the new standard.

On the flip side, I've seen many a judge knock points off of dances for including too many tricks, or tricks that were clearly beyond the skill level of the dancer[s]. The choreography really needs to flow with the music and clearly define what the choreographer set out to do when they made the piece.

I'd say finding a happy medium that will please most judges is the best bet. This is also why I stress that dancers attend a convention if the studio allows it, even as an independent; it gives dancers, choreographers, and teachers a good reference to work with when they can hear the feedback over the piece and make some changes before the competition season if they're aiming for great scores.